Of Ears And Tails
by Orcux
Summary: A new problem that puts all his past endeavours to shame. neko!Tsuna    1827, mild ALL27


Hello there, my amazing readers! This is, well as you could probably tell from the summary, a story about neko!Tsuna. It's mainly 1827, but they all have their moments as well, so I guess you could call it ALL27. It's not exactly full-of-spicy-plot-and-witty-humor if that's what you're looking for, but I hope that you'll like it.

Yes, this will be multi-chaptered, so here's hoping that you'll look forward to the next one as well!

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**Chapter O N E**

Realization

Ears. Complete with a tail. Tsuna was stunned into silence as he froze in front of the mirror in utter shock and denial.

"This can't be happening..." He muttered to himself in poorly concealed disgust – Well, who was there to hide It from anyway? He was pretty sure he was allowed to feel disgusted with himself at times like these! It made a good change; He had never felt disgusted at anyone before, and this was a great opportunity to start practicing. He ran appraising eyes over his reflection again. A pair of soft, white and fluffy ears twitched as he poked at them tentatively. They blended in with his hair, so he supposed it wasn't all that bad. If he could just figure out how to lie them flat on top of his head… there! He did it! Now he could probably claim that it was a bad case of dandruff! He realized with a start that he was triumphant about the whole affair. Triumphant! Who on earth would be triumphant about the fact that he just did something crazy out of reflex? As if he had been doing it since the beginning of the Stone Age!

While he had been fretting about his ears, a silky warm object brushed against his hand, making him jump backwards in fright, falling over like the clumsy person he was. There was a searing sensation and he got up quickly, wondering if he had perhaps, crushed a passing hedgehog or maybe just set his pants on fire. Then he remembered that there was no way a hedgehog could pass by that randomly and he was wearing shorts, not pants. Thereafter, he decided that looking down was the best possible action that could be taken in this situation and probably the smartest, which was saying something, considering that he scored an average of 17.5 in every test. He then calculated the number of seconds in which he would be able find out what that very unwelcome disturbance was for no particular reason, ending up with an incredible number of 0.678543 seconds, which he immediately rounded up to the nearest hundredth in order to avoid confusion in his already muddled brain. One would question of how he had ended up with that answer in the first place; Tsuna would have grinned shiftily saying that it was a secret, but the simple fact was that he had no idea himself.

The warm object brushed against his hand again, and calming himself down, he seized the object in an iron grip, before realizing that it was a tail, and that it was a part of him, so it was entirely possible that it would hurt. Terribly. He was proven right for the first time in his life and he felt that horrible sensation again, similar to what one might feel while dying slowly, or as their fingers were chopped into half, quarters, eighths, and finally, ripped off their remaining joints. His tail looked slightly squashed, and it hovered around behind him resentfully with the air of an injured terrapin. Seizing hold of a nearby brush, he set about brushing the tail until it was sleek again. And shiny too, he added to himself proudly, before finally coming to the conclusion that he must secretly have had an incredible liking for cats in his past life.

"Tsu-kun?"

Before he could do anything more than leap up in surprise and drop the brush on his foot painfully, the door was smashed open with a tremendous force comparable to that of a tornado's. A lady with caramel hair similar to that of his own stood in the doorway, her eyes glinting dangerously as she grinned at her 15 year old son. It was amazing how one could mistake her for a young and gentle lady while in actuality; she was full of brute force. Tsuna was in no way saying that his mother was not gentle, but the simple fact remained that she could quite possibly be a fairly equal match for a raging elephant. No other references to the elephant meant. He looked at her facial expression. Nothing seemed to be forthcoming, which meant that she hadn't noticed the oddities about her son this morning. As expected.

"Tsu-kun! You're up so early today!" cried Nana joyously, throwing her arms around Tsuna without further ado. "You've finally grown up!"

"K-Kaa-san!" yelled Tsuna in utter embarrassment, struggling to free himself and trying not to feel too insulted simultaneously. "And what did you mean by that!"

"Well," Nana said, raising her eyebrows at her dense son, "You're never woken up without me pulling your toy bear off you before…" Tsuna turned white. He turned around, his gaze following the direction of his mother's pointed finger. The bear lying headfirst on the ground, somehow managing to glare at him accusingly upside-down, with a look that clearly stated: I don't need an owner that dumps me on the ground the moment he wakes up. Tsuna was appalled. It was the first time that he had forgotten about Kou-san. He immediately scooped Kou-san into his arms.

"I'm sorry Kou-san! I-I didn't mean to drop you! I don't know what came over me!" Tsuna sobbed, banging his head on the ground profusely. The bear snickered at him with the agility of a somersaulting camel, which Tsuna interpreted as: Grovel at my feet, mongrel. "No." said Tsuna firmly. The bear stared at him; its perpetually frozen face froze even more, if possible, in shock. Tsuna sighed, placing Kou-san back in his rightful place on his bed, tucking him into the blankets. "You're just tired." He muttered, sighing again. "Don't take your anger out on me!" This effectively concluded their conversation.

Nana watched Tsuna tuck his bear in the blankets irritably, and smiled to herself. He never failed to amuse her; he always seemed to think that the toy bear was alive. What a queer boy, she thought lovingly. Shaking her head, she commented, "I know you woke up early, but it's been 20 minutes, which means that you're late again." With that, Tsuna gasped and pulled on his school uniform clumsily before running down the stairs. Nana covered her ears and was not disappointed- a loud crash came from the direction of the staircase. She strolled out casually just in time to see Tsuna pick himself up from the ground, bang into the door, and after three attempts, run out of the house. She grinned proudly.

"That's one less than yesterday! Atta-boy!"

Tsuna ran out of the house in a frenzy, glancing at his non-existent watch. It was the first day of the term, how could he have forgotten? Hibari was definitely, irrefutably, going to murder him! The last time he was caught late, he had been introduced to the Hitonfas, which was undoubtedly the most painful experience he had ever undergone. That being said, Tsuna was the slowest runner in the school for a reason and he, huffing and puffing, reached the school gates exactly a second after the bell rang. Hibari was already there, watching on with an amused smirk as the members of the Discipline Committee obediently beat up the latecomers. Terrified, Tsuna tried to inch past them without making a sound. An arm shot out of nowhere to grab his wrist, and he let out a terrified squeak before turning around slowly to see a furious Hibari.

"You're late again." Hibari said simply, as if it explained everything. Which it did. Tsuna knew what was going to happen now, and there was nothing he could do but wait for it. He squeezed his eyes shut, awaiting the incoming blow. But none came. Instead he felt a sensation at the top of his head, which was strangely pleasurable. Without actually thinking about it, he let out a purr, which reverberated at the back of his throat. His eyes flashed open in embarrassment, and he finally saw what was causing it. Hibari was lazily stroking his ears with a look of utmost contentment, making Tsuna squirm in embarrassment; he quickly looked around to see if there was anyone there, but it seemed that everyone else had mysteriously disappeared. The Discipline Committee members were probably disposing of the unconscious bodies in the nearby bushes or something, to "keep the peace and order in Namimori" and not to display the horrifying sights to a casual passerby. Hibari's hand stilled, and Tsuna glanced up questioningly. Hibari smirked. "Ears..." He murmured to himself, before bending down to blow lightly on them. "Go to class now, or I'll bite you to death."

For some reason, that made Tsuna shiver in anticipation- Wait. Anticipation? He yanked at his ears in frustration. He had always known that he was a rather abnormal child, but this was going a little too far! Was he actually getting looking forward to Hibari's assault? Was he a masochist now? No! No freaking way!

Hibari watched Tsuna in amusement as his face turned a magnificent crimson color. Tsuna bowed clumsily and backed away. "T-Then, I'll be off now, Hibari-san…"

Tsuna quickly ran towards the direction of the school, tripping over his feet as he did. As the ground rushed up to meet him, he grabbed onto something randomly, which happened to be a 'somebody', or rather, the shirt sleeve of the person wearing it. "Sorry!" Tsuna gasped, before realizing that he was hanging off Hibari in an incredibly undignified position. 'Jeez! Why is he everywhere I go? That's just creepy!' Tsuna couldn't help thinking, as he swiftly let go off his sleeve and straightened up to meet his death once again. Hibari was motionless, though he turned to narrow his eyes at Tsuna. "I'll walk you up to class; you're late enough as it is." Tsuna could hardly believe his luck. Being caught by the head of the Discipline Committee was something, but being walked up to class by him… The number of times he could possibly be murdered was countless.

"N-No, that's kind of you Hibari-san, but no tha-"His words died in his throat as he looked at Hibari's cold silver irises, which were currently focused on his honey-brown ones. "Are you talking back to me?" Hibari whispered, pulling out the Hitonfa twins slowly. "No! Definitely not! I-It must be your imagination!" Tsuna forced a smile on his face, which turned out to be more of a grimace than a smile. He wondered if he was pushing it; his reply consisted of more than 7 words. Hibari was infamous for his "Get to the point, or I'll bite you to death" threat. Surprisingly, Hibari did not seem to be annoyed, though Tsuna could have sworn that he rolled his eyes. "I don't approve of imaginations," was the only thing he said however, before dragging Tsuna bodily towards the classrooms.

When they opened the classroom door, they were greeted with snarl from the teacher, who wrestled a spare desk painfully off the floor, staggered a few steps towards them, before dropping it with a screech of pain. Massaging his aching back, the teacher turned towards Tsuna, screaming profanities which did not seem to be suitable for usage in a class of growing, hormonal teenagers.

"Sawada!" You're late again!" he shouted, though his rambling suddenly came to a halt, ending with horrified gasp. Tsuna looked around to see why- Hibari had his tonfas pulled out and was glaring at the teacher menacingly. "He's with me." Hibari's authoritative voice resounded throughout the room. In one swift motion, he dropped a cap on Tsuna's head, and slid out of the room.

There was an awkward silence as Hibari left, and Tsuna quickly scurried towards the direction of his seat, smiling shiftily to Gokudera, who was craning his neck and digging in his pockets, as if eager to blow Hibari up with his dynamites if he caught him entering the classroom again, and Yamamoto, who smiled back at him in a confused but relaxed manner. "Take the cap off, Sawada." The teacher ordered, recovering from his state of shock. Tsuna fingered the rim of the cap hesitantly, dreading the reaction of his friends if they found out that he had a pair of cat ears sticking out of his head randomly. "But… Hibari-san said…" He never got to finish that sentence, as the teacher let out a shout of dismay and turned pale as he imagined the consequences of defying the head of the Discipline Council. "Never mind, on second thoughts, keep it on!" He shouted, arms flailing in the air in panic. The lesson proceeded as usual, with some muttering and whispering from his classmates as they wondered what Tsuna had done to endure the wrath of Hibari, the hound of hell. Or rather, hell itself. He couldn't help overhearing a whispered conversation between the pair of classmates in front of him:

"Hey Yoko, I wonder what Dame Tsuna has done this time."

"I don't know, but this is the first time I've actually felt sorry for him."

"I'm honestly quite surprised that he's still alive though, I thought Hibari always chewed everyone out, minced them up and threw them in a mixer."

"Don't be disgusting! I think Hibari's just saving his energy; he'll deal with him later."

This did not improve Tsuna's spirits, and he settled with mentally assaulting the pair. If you're going to gossip about someone, do it behind their backs! He meant that both literally and metaphorically.

The bell rang, signaling the end of lesson, and the start of break. Gokudera immediately positioned himself in front of Tsuna, and bowed down low, his silver hair sweeping the ground. "Juudaime! Please let me eat with you!" he cried passionately. "Maa, maa, Gokudera. Let's just eat together!" Yamamoto grinned, dropping down into the empty chair beside Tsuna. "How dare you sit beside the Tenth so casually, baseball freak! Also, I was going to take that chair!" Gokudera shouted. Tsuna sighed. For some reason, their usual bickering was really getting to him. His ears twitched in irritation under the cap, but immediately stopped as they hit the hard interior of the cap. Ouch.

Yamamoto turned around and noticed Tsuna kicking his feet against the leg of the table, his face screwed up in what seemed like pain and annoyance. He suspected the kicking was not helping.

Tsuna felt his ears burn in pain; why did he have such sensitive ears! Scratch that. Why did he have these ears in the first place! What did he do to deserve this! Could it be a sign? Wait, a sign of what?

"Is something wrong, Juudaime?" Gokudera's concerned face loomed into view. Tsuna backpedalled, fell and landed rather unfortunately onto his tail for the second time that day. The tail had been carefully concealed under his school uniform so that it wouldn't stick out, but that only made it more painful for him. Cats must have really hectic lives, he concluded solemnly. He got to his feet slowly, wincing. "I'm sorry for startling you Juudaime! I must've been too loud!" Gokudera yelled in panic, wringing his hands in despair.

"Um… I'm just going to go to the nurse's office. I don't feel so well." Tsuna lied quickly. He had to tend to his precious- no, annoying tail. And fast. It was true that he was getting quite a headache from his ears and tail though. He wished he could just pull them off and burn them. If not for the fact that he was probably -just probably- getting a little attached to them. N-No! That wasn't true at all! "Well it did save me from Hibari, though I'm already in enough pain everyday and this doesn't make matters better in the slightest! It's a good thing Reborn isn't home; I'd be dead by now if he was." Tsuna sighed to himself, before dashing out of the classroom, ignoring his friends' concerned faces. He felt a slight twinge of guilt, but things would've gotten even crazier than it already was if he didn't get out of the classroom quickly.

"I wonder what that was about," mused Yamamoto, puzzled. Gokudera whacked him across his head in frustration, muttering about baseball freaks and the shame of being ignored by the Tenth.

"I'd visit him later, but my sister wants me to help out at with spring cleaning; she said that she'd shove her Poison Cooking down my throat if I refused." Gokudera despaired; he had to open a window just thinking about the dire consequences. Yamamoto chortled, imagining how Gokudera would look like holding a mop and a pink towel. He slapped Gokudera in the back playfully. "Don't worry; I'll make sure that he's fine! I don't have practice today anyway." Gokudera narrowed his eyes at Yamamoto and nodded slowly. He'd never admit it, but the baseball freak got the job done when he had to, so this was reassuring to an extent.

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And so concludes the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.

What did you think?

Please review if you have the time to do so. :)


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